Birt Family Focus

Epcot: An Introduction-- 5/14/02

Howdy folks

I'm back and starting on the next leg of our journey- the second star in the WDW crown- Epcot!

This originally stood for Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow. Wags have coined a few other phrases- Every Person Comes Out Tired, Employee Paychecks Come Out Tuesday, etc. If you have ridden the "people mover" in Tomorrowland, you will have seen the original model for Epcot. It was Walt's dream that a self contained city be built here. He died before that dream could be realized, but his ideas were put to use and in 1979, ground was broken to build EPCOT, a new theme park dedicated to the advancements in technology and connected to the MK via monorail. Epcot opened on Oct. 1, 1982. Since then it has evolved quite a bit in effort to keep up with the technological advances that it is supposed to preview and present as "coming soon to a home near you". It has been hard to keep up, but I think they have done a wonderful job. By changing the focus over the years to science in general, rather than technology in specific, they have managed to keep from becoming old hat and out of date. There is a wealth of information and fun learning here and we recommend that all of you, particularly those with children over 5, spend a day or 2 (you could spend a day in each pavilion) here. In fact, since Epcot is twice the size of the MK- you will need at least 2 days to see it all, I highly recommend 3 if you can spare it. One for the east side, one for the west side, and one for World Showcase. There is no transportation of any sort inside the park except a very short boat ride across the lagoon. Once the tram or monorail has deposited you from the parking lot or MK your feet have to get you where you want to go, so plan accordingly. Epcot opens at 9am but World Showcase on the far side of the lagoon doesn't open until 11. Both are open until 9pm, unless it is a holiday or high volume day, when they may stay open until 10 or later. Illuminations, the nightly finale of fireworks, music, and lasers, happens at 9pm every night.

Next week, I will start an attraction -by-attraction tour, much like the one I did for MK. We will start with Spaceship earth and move left to the Innoventions West area. When Epcot opened, these areas were known as "Communicore East and West" . The focus has changed now, so thus the name change. After this half of Innoventions, we will go to the Universe of Energy, the Life Pavilion, Test Track, back across to the Imagination Pavilion, the Land, the Living Seas, and finally, Innoventions West. After exploring the "streetmosphere" on this side of the Lagoon, we will then move to the World Showcase.

That's the plan. Hope you will continue to tour with me-